Addressing Systemic Racism and Institutional Inequities in CSD

ASHA’s Board of Directors approved the Response to Racism position statement in June 2020:

ASHA explicitly condemns systemic racism and oppression, and the violent acts that took the lives most recently of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd—and so many before them. Read more.

In March 2021, ASHA issued a statement strongly condemning racism and violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) strongly condemns the escalating violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, most recently manifested by this week’s mass shooting in Atlanta. Read more.

Theresa Rodgers, ASHA's Immediate Past President, provided an update on ASHA's plans and progress in addressing systemic racism in the communications sciences and disorders professions in September 2020.

2022

• Updated and expanded the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at ASHA statement.
• Launched the module That's Unheard Of - Intersections: Activating Allyship [PDF] and upgraded Module 2 of That's Unheard Of: Cultural Competency Assessments.
• Made revisions to multiple ASHA Practice Portal pages using a cultural lens including the Cultural Responsiveness (formerly Cultural Competence) and Accent Modification pages.
• Updated the Cultural Competence Check-Ins.
• Developed the Dynamic Assessment micro course.
• Awarded funding to 4 proposals via the 2022 Grant Program for Projects on Multicultural Activities.
• Added the Disability Caucus to the Multicultural Constituency Groups.
• Revised the webpage Supporting and Working with Transgender and Gender-Diverse People.
• Updated the Representation Matters website.
• Compiled the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) ASHAWire Special Collection.  

2021

• CAA revised Standards 3.4A and 3.4B (Diversity Reflected in the Curriculum) of the Standards for Accreditation of Graduate Education Programs in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, effective Jan. 1, 2023.
• Supporting and Working with Transgender and Gender-Diverse People was created to provide guidance for appropriate practice in the professions.
• The Student to Empowered Professional (S.T.E.P.) Mentoring Program, a virtual program developed for under-represented populations of CSD students, welcomed over 750 mentees.
• The Grant Program for Projects on Multicultural Activities provided funding for 4 projects.
• Beginning with certificate holders in the January 1, 2023–December 31, 2025 maintenance interval, at least 2 professional development hours for certification maintenance must be in cultural competency, cultural humility, culturally responsive practice, or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
• The Taking Action Against Microaggressions micro course series about recognizing, experiencing, witnessing, and combatting microaggressions was launched.

November 2020

• ASHA launched the SIGnature Series, which includes webinars on disrupting racial bias, supporting marginalized CSD students, and the role of diversity and bias in supervision as well as several on culturally responsive service provision and practice.
• Prohibitions Against Discrimination Under ASHA’s Code of Ethics and Enforcement by the Board of Ethics was posted. This document reviews the processes for filing a discrimination claim with ASHA’s Board of Ethics. Filing a discrimination claim with the Board of Ethics may be a helpful and necessary course of action when issues of diversity, equity, or inclusion have been undermined or violated.
• ASHA Professional Development is developing a series of 30-minute micro courses to help members recognize microaggressions, support those who have experienced them, and take action to combat microaggressions, with a target launch date in January 2021.

October 2020

• The Minority Student Leadership Program (MSLP) hosted two virtual events, Student Leadership for a New Day and Level Up Your Leadership.
• CAA and CFCC are identifying priority areas for addressing barriers and systemic issues that need to be changed.
• ASHA is re-launching the That’s Unheard Of campaign (paused due to COVID-19).
• ASHA was a signatory on a multi-society letter to reinstitute DEI training for federal employees [PDF].

September 2020

• ASHA is expanding our existing Strategic Objective on increasing the diversity of the membership to Increase Diversity/Equity/Inclusion (DEI) within the Association and the discipline.
• ASHA is developing a microlearning opportunity on microaggressions.
• ASHA’s Board of Ethics began working on a resource related to the Code of Ethics’ prohibitions of discrimination.

July/August 2020

• ASHA held online listening sessions.
• ASHA Board of Directors (BOD) and Facilitating Team were trained in implicit bias.
• BOD approved the ASHA Envisioned Future 2025.

The Allied Health Workforce Diversity Act’s key provision was signed into law requiring federal resources to provide opportunities for and expand the diversity of future audiologists and SLPs.

Download the issue brief to learn more [PDF]